This May, the “Hellenic Diaspora” Foundation presents its first project outside Greece with *Oikeiosis*, a solo exhibition of new works by Greek artist Pavlina Vagioni at Spazio Tana in Venice, on the occasion of the 61st Venice Biennale. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Laura Augusta, Jane Dale Owen Director and Chief Curator of the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston. Oikiosis draws on Vagionis’ poetic and physical visual and auditory language, which redefines mythology and philosophy as lived, embodied experience.

Across two spaces, visitors move through a sensory journey from isolation to connection. Warm, captivating, and meditative, the
exhibition pulsates with light, sound, and the presence of the human body, engaging in a direct dialogue with the theme of the In Minor
Keys, which calls for healing, harmony, and the radicalism of joy in a world in crisis.

Vagioni comments: “The world is full of reasons to distance ourselves from one another. I wanted to create a quiet work. Not a protest, nor a commentary, but a space where strangers can sit together and
remember that another reality is possible.”

Pavlina Vagioni

The artist, who has also studied classical singing and composition, transforms the visitor from a passive observer into a participant. Her approach is both rational and intuitive, drawing on ancient wisdom, traditions, music, andscenography to create a fluid artistic language. Focusing on elemental materials such as sound, light, reflections, and salt, she avoids ostentation or a didactic resolution. Instead, she engages the visitor in a process of co-presence.

Curator Dr. Laura Augusta notes:

“In alchemy, salt is the principle of memory, made tangible. For this new installation, Pavlina Vagioni reflects on the tangible ways in which we connect. Here, a group of salt seats will change shape throughout the exhibition, retaining the imprint of physical contact—their own memory of the visitors who stop for a moment’s rest. If we imagine kinship as a kind of embrace, as a shared space and gathering, as a song, we could describe our entanglements with others as a series of overlapping, embracing circles, gently expanding from the self toward the beloved, toward the familiar, toward the unknown. In a moment of unprecedented fragmentation, the artist perceives the fundamental principles of our social responsibility as empathy, closeness, and warmth, even before information. And perhaps this is our most primal memory: the feeling of holding on to one another in co-presence.”

About the Exhibition

Pavlina Vagioni: OIKEIŌSIS
Wednesday 6 May – Sunday 25 October 2026
Spazio Tana 2127/A, Venezia (Arsenale)
Hours: Tuesday– Sunday, 11:00–19:00